And you can tell everybody, this is my song

Ask me what my favorite genre of music is, ask me what type of songs I prefer, ask me which artist or artists I like to listen to, and you will get a 10 minute mini thesis. That's if I am pressed for time.

Ask me what my favorite song is? What the one song is I absolutely love beyond any other?

I can't give you a definite permanent answer. I can give you an immediate temporary one from a select few that I rotate through. Today, you get this.

***

I know that you shouldn't expect improvement on perfection, and I don't. I'm not so far gone, though, that I don't go looking for variation on it, at times. Armed with youtube and google, it's easier than ever for me to track down covers of songs I like and add them to my special covers' collection--the collection of any and all covers for a handful of songs I am especially attached to--and that I'm comfortable with the idea of it being covered (a whole 'nother conversation for some other time).

Variation never guarantees interesting, though. This one leaves me cold. Completely unmoved. I can't even muster enough energy to dislike it heatedly, as bad as it is to my ears. Just not worth it. Some people, though tend to disagree with me. I think they're tone deaf. Or soulless. Or both.

Between The Bars (cover) - Chris Garneau



This actually would be a barely passable cover, if I had not heard it for the first time watching the video. Because immediately, all I could think was how Emily Haines looks almost exactly like a rather famous (infamous?) mommy blogger, with those shades, and now I can't ever get it out of my head that it's that blogger singing it as another way to gain notoriety. (Do check out Metric and also some of her own solo works; there's some decent stuff there.)

Between The Bars (cover) - Metric



Now, I kind of dig Madeleine Peyroux. She made a name for herself mostly based on covers but, really, her voice deserves more attention than just a vehicle for delivering songs already done (much like Eve Cassidy). She does have an album of original songs out now, which is definitely worth checking out. Now, this particular cover is interesting enough to merit attention, especially coupled with her voice and the slightly old-Berliner influenced Lady Day slant to it. Unfortunately (for me), I have to listen to this without watching the video, once again, because I get completely distracted by the girl in it, this time because she is a doppelganger for an acquaintance of mine--so much so, that I actually e-mailed her to ask if that was her (it is eerily uncanny, the resemblance, and completely freaked her-and me--out.)

Between The Bars (cover) - Madeleine Peyroux



I've talked about this one a little bit before. Once again, another one where watching the video kind of takes away from the promise of the cover, because Scott Matthews is such a freaking drama queen when he is singing--rather a shame because I do dig his voice (check him out also on the soundtrack to 'Shortbus'.) Unfortunately, as noted before, listening only to audio on this one then spotlights Holly Miranda's tendency to Elmer Fudd her r's; again a shame, because she does some nice if slightly forced anguishing on the chorus and second verse.

Besides, the rabid eye lighting due to the poor video quality makes you just anticipate them suddenly jumping into the audience and tearing into someone's throat. Yeah, much better to just listen to this one:

Between The Bars (cover) - Scott Matthews and Holly Miranda



This one is hands down my favorite of the bunch, worthy enough to be considered an actually decent cover. He does something different about the tempo and the key (yes, yes, this is me being a sucker for those minors), and his voice does the song justice. Mostly, I think it works because he isn't trying so hard to make it work.

Between The Bars (cover) - Joshua Radin



***

As much as I love singing to the kid (whether he likes it or not, is another story, although today I kept him entertained, for close to two hours singing song after song at his request!), I wasn't much of a lullaby singing mom. In fact, I only sang one song, and really one song to him as a lullaby, ever (and later, in that awful time in the hospital, even though he was fast asleep and couldn't hear me; probably more for me than for him). That was, of course, 'Between The Bars'--it is actually an easily adaptable song for such a purpose, and a very good one, too, as long as you change a few words (bolded is where I changed it for the purpose of singing the kid to sleep):

Drink up baby, stay up all night
With the things you could do
You will with your might (orig: You won't, but you might)
The potential you'll be that I'll help you see (orig:...that you'll never see)
The promises I know you'll make (orig: The promises you'll only make)
Drink up with me now, and forget all about
The pressure of days
Do what I say
And I'll make you okay and drive them away
The images stuck in your head

The people you you've been before
That you don't want around around anymore
That push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still

Drink up baby, look at the stars
I'll kiss you again between the bars
Where I'm seeing you there, with your hands in the air
Waiting to finally be caught
Drink up one more time and I'll make you mine
Keep you apart, deep in my heart
Separate from the rest, where I like you the best
And keep the things you forgot

The people you've been before
That you don't want around anymore
That push and shove and won't bend to your will
I'll keep them still

I love this song, and no one does it or will ever do it better than Elliott Smith himself. Even with nothing but a kitchen curtain as a backdrop and simple mic setup, it still sounds better than anything anyone else can conceive of:

Between The Bars - Elliott Smith



And the album version is here, if you are so inclined